Stress is taking over me. I must shop for fall.

The problem is that I am not "getting" the fashion this year. I hate everything in my closet from the past years and have no idea how to match what I must buy with what I already have. Everything looks so un-match-able .

Harssan the Hindu magazine stall seller with an enormous smile piles up this month's issues of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Nylon, W Magazine and a few others I have never heard of. They are all talking about the New fashion, this is very important! My shopping bag is heavy, and Harssan says with another smile - "Edggioi Miss".

I head home thinking of hot Darjeeling tea to help my concentration, when a large portrait in a Bergdoff Goodman window on 57th Street catches my attention. It's from the New York Look Book, published by Melcher Media, and apparently new in stores this week. I notice from the pictures in the window display, some individuals of all ages and genders, dressed in a very personal and peculiar way, emanating somehow a powerful and vibrant magnetism from their looks and attitude.

From vintage Gucci glasses to red hair, impressive skin tattoos and large Hermes Birkin bags, colorful striped wool sweaters paired with faux animal skins, countless silver bracelets and ring collections, loud red lipsticks and Panama hats, furs bought at a Niagara Falls family thrift shop, brand new Puma sneakers, belts from Guatemala, suits from Brioni, old Missoni socks, Rogan t-shirts, vintage Betsy Johnson, ponchos, H&M scarves, Marni coats, grandparents' watches, Hong-Kong Swiss cotton tailored shirts, mum's 70s cowboys boots, Christian Louboutin to-the- edge sandals -- all telling visual stories about those who wear them. I like that. I am going to buy the book right now. Sold out. I will order it online.

At home, in the August 26 New York Times Magazine Style issue (my favorite) Women's fashion fall 2007, pictures of Jean-Baptiste Mondino, in the article United Colors of Fashion finally comfort my deranged soul. I start relaxing, appreciating the strong Darjeeling aroma of my tea and the multiple variations of possibilities in my closet. Models wear layers of colorful un-match-able coats, sweaters, shoes shirts and pants and who cares what other think? It looks so great, so free spirited!

I always thought of myself as a daring personality in the way I dress, especially with accessories and jewelry, but I realized once more -- strolling through the white background studio-like pictures of photographer Jake Chessum and quick, impertinent but respectful interviews by writer Amy Larocca of the New York Magazine, in the project that started a year ago in the randomly picked New York streets of Manhattan -- that style is nothing more than the personal expression of the self and the revelation in depth of one's personality. It's about courage, vanity, certainty and most of all freedom to flaunt one's style like plumage as read in the New York Look Book foreword by magazine editor-in-chief Adam Moss.

This city is full of globally eclectic stylish people, apparently they sound the way they look.  Among some of the exotic names in the Look Book: Mica de Jesus, Anjel Garcia, Raven Burgos, Shakti Westrom, Alain Ades, David Rauch, Par Parekh, Jamie Pesavento (a mother of cute, stylish baby pooches called Venus, Aphrodite, and Zena). In a way, all men and women are seriously committed in thinking of making their look their own.

The popular Sartorialist and other recent blogs have already proved that the examination of style in the streets has become something anthropological, and New York Magazine with their last photographic and documentation project has certainly made contention that the streets of New York are giant runaways, and each passerby plays the role of model and designer of his own style.

Very well. I am on my way to buy that bright wool psychedelic H&M scarf and hat, sure it will look absolutely gorgeous with my Hermes Kelly burgundy crocodile handbag and my Jodhpur Khakis bought in 1980 at a local seaside Kerala market. I will then candidly walk straight down Madison Avenue. Who knows, Jake Chessum's eye might luckily and accidentally catch the personification of my look and feature my style in next week's issue?...My answers to Amy are perfectly ready.

I will cross my fingers and say a little prayer to Hashem.

Joelle's Picks

The book: The New York Look Book - A Gallery of Street Fashion. Amy Larocca and Jake Chessun. Buy online at Amazon.

The Vintage Look shopping online: Adore Vintage

The Look Book Party pictures

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